In an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com to support National Lampoon’s Vacation on 4K Ultra HD out today, Vacation star Dana Barron discussed her meetings with other performers who played the role of Audrey Griswold after she left the franchise. The changes started immediately after the success of the first movie, when a sequel — National Lampoon’s European Vacation — was rushed into development which would replace both Barron, and Anthony MIchael Hall, the Sixteen Candles star who played her brother in the first movie. Over the years, Audrey has been played by Barron, Dana Hill, Juliette Lewis, Marisol Nichols, and Leslie Mann.
Barron said that she was friends with Hill, who passed away in 1996 as a result of complications from Type 1 Diabetes. She also talked a little bit about meeting some of the other Audreys (although she’s still missing one from her dance card):
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“I’ve written a book 40 Years on Vacation, and it talks alittle bit about that,” Barron told ComicBook.com’s Chris Killian. “There’s Dana Hill, who I knew, a wonderful woman who unfortunately passed away. Marisol Nichols, who I met recently at a con. Juliette Lewis, we did one of the Old Navy commercials together years ago.”
Since neither is listed for sale yet, it seems likely — but isn’t necessarily clear — that Barron is referring to a project with the working title of Holiday Road: Are We There Yet?, which will collect fans’ stories and share some of the most Griswold-like vacation anecdotes she can round up.
For those who don’t know, the National Lampoon’s Vacation franchise — which spans six films, although one was a direct-to-video sequel that didn’t star any of the original characters — centers on the adventures of the Griswold family, led by Clark (Chevy Chase) and Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo), as they criscross the globe on a variety of attempts to have the best vacation ever. Originally based on a short story by The Breakfast Club director John Hughes, the franchise ballooned into a decades-long family odyssey, and a new 4K Ultra reissue today celebrates the 40th anniversary of the first movie.
Chase has appeared in all five theatrical releases, although a direct-to-DVD Christmas Vacation 2, which centered on Randy Quaid’s character of Cousin Eddie, is otherwise unconnected to the larger franchise. During our interview, Barron also talked about a pitch she had to bring the original Griswolds back together in a legacy sequel.
“I have my personal pitch but I don’t see it happening at this point,” Barron told ComicBook.com’s Chris Killian. “Wouldn’t it be fun for them to be…Rusty and I stick then with our young kids — the parents. Just ‘Go and take care of them,’ and they have their vacation running after little kids, and Rusty and I go to some club and be silly for a long weekend. It hasn’t been done yet, and it’s all about the script. If it’s a really good script, I’m sure it would be considered, but right now, nothing has been written.”
You can get the 4K restoration of National Lampoon’s Vacation now.
